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<title>In Which Will Meets The Lecters (A Three-Part Mini-Opera) [To walk inside the void like a kid inside a cave] by theprincesjester</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566441">In Which Will Meets The Lecters (A Three-Part Mini-Opera) [To walk inside the void like a kid inside a cave]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincesjester/pseuds/theprincesjester'>theprincesjester</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If you'll be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hannibal (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(no really. he broke into the law place and made it illegal to dislike her), (tags i never thought i’d make), (that last one's a joke), Gen, Hannibal Lecter is Not a Cannibal, I Love Mischa Lecter, because honestly what's better than that, because that’s will and hannibal at this point, but they've barely had a full conversation, especially later on, everyone loves mischa, hannibal made it a law, i'll probably update tags as we go, it feels So Weird writing a hannibal that’s not, i’m getting Excited about halloween so, i’m still bitter about les mis if you can’t tell, just trust me okay, mischa bonded with most people over animals, mischa has a degu, mischa jimmy and brian have a secret handshake, no I don't have an explanation, or a frog, she almost ended up with a lizard, the lecters are having a halloween party, what do you can a pre-pre-relationship, will and mischa bond over animals, will/hannibal is incredibly likely, y’know. a cannibal</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:20:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,908</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566441</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprincesjester/pseuds/theprincesjester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>How many times can you meet someone before you have officially "met" them? </p><p>At this point, none of them are too sure.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beverly Katz &amp; Hannibal Lecter, Beverly Katz &amp; Jimmy Price &amp; Brian Zeller, Hannibal Lecter &amp; Mischa Lecter, Will Graham &amp; Beverly Katz, Will Graham &amp; Hannibal Lecter, Will Graham &amp; Mischa Lecter, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>If you'll be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. 1.) ...is this therapy? (Damn You, Victor Hugo)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Will goes to therapy and meets Mischa Lecter. The two bond over animals (after she gives up reading Les Mis. To be fair, fuck Victor Hugo.)</p><p>Will is vaguely surprised to find that most of the people he knows have already run into the Lecters before.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>we almost got a hannibal nightmare/mischa bonding scene. Almost.<br/>if anyone wants it (he ends up using a certain grounding technique, likely learned from bedelia, and it felt a little weird to tack onto the end here) then i might end up inserting it elsewhere, but for now, here we go</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Will Graham met (or, more accurately, saw) Hannibal Lecter himself, it was an accident. </p><p>He had gone to therapy—just as he had told his friends. </p><p>He was seeing Bedelia Du Maurier for therapy. He was vaguely aware of the fact that she was considered to be (at least somewhat) renowned in her field. He was seated in the waiting room, and sitting in a chair not too far from him was a younger girl—a teenager, he thought, but he was avoiding looking at her face (not that it was difficult, she was reading a book and hadn’t looked up when he walked in)—with a pair of light amber colored glasses. Her hair is pale, partially hanging in her face, and she brings a hand up to push it out of her eyes and tucks it behind her ear. She turns the page in the rather large book and sighs, mutters something under her breath. </p><p>“Damn you, Victor Hugo,” she’s just barely loud enough for him to hear, and she looks up and at the wall, almost as though she blames it personally for whatever Victor Hugo has pulled this time. She adjusts the glasses and sighs again. Will briefly considers saying something in response, but then she actually turns to look at him, and her entire face seems to light up. “Hi!” she waves, looking down at her book and putting a marker in it before waving. She doesn’t make eye contact with him, something he’s grateful for, but she does look at him. </p><p>“Uh… hi?” for a moment, he’s not entirely sure she’s attempting to converse with him, but when her grin widens, his suspicions are confirmed. </p><p>“I’m Mischa! Mischa Lecter,” </p><p>“Will Graham,” he nods. He’s mentally wracking his brain, trying to figure out why the name seems vaguely familiar, but finds himself coming up empty. </p><p>“Would you like to see my degu?” she doesn’t waste any time getting right to it. Will can only nod again, unsure of what exactly is happening until she’s holding a small-ish rodent out to him, The animal sits in her hand, watching him, and she grins. “You can pet them, they’re…” she trails off. “They won’t bite,” </p><p>    Will hesitates before he gently pets the animal’s head, and when Mischa starts practically beaming, he can’t help but be glad he did so. </p><p>    “What’s your major?” She eventually asks him. He shrugs—it’s been rather inconsistent, all things considered—and she nods. “That’s alright.” </p><p>    “I have a bunch of dogs,” he eventually offers, and her head snaps up to look at him quickly and she has a certain <em> look </em>in her eyes. “I actually, uh, found one yesterday, we named her Rose,” </p><p>    “That’s beautiful,” she almost whispers it, as though there’s something she doesn’t want to break. Will nods. </p><p>    “They’re all rescues,” he adds. Mischa sort of bobs her head in acknowledgement. </p><p>    “They sound wonderful,” her voice is softer, and Will barely hesitates before he brings out his phone and starts showing her pictures. </p><p>They continue like that for a bit—Will showing her pictures of his dogs and his friends and telling her about them, then she shows him pictures of two degus and a black cat that she calls ‘Ananke’ (and in a few pictures, there’s a pale-haired man that she favours quite a bit but doesn’t say too terribly much about except that Ananke is his cat and that he reads aloud to the animals, especially when Mischa asks him nicely enough)—until the door swings open, and Bedelia is standing behind the man from Mischa’s pictures. Will accidentally makes eye contact with him, then averts his gaze, considering the almost strange eye color. </p><p>“…and my door is open, should you need help,” they’re catching the tail end of whatever Befelia is telling the man and both of them know it. The man simply nods. </p><p>“Thank you.” he answers, then he looks down at Mischa, gaze softening. “Mischa, it’s time to go,”</p><p>“Okay, <em> Father </em>,” Mischa puts a certain emphasis on the word, almost as though implying a joke, but Will can see enough of a resemblance that he almost doesn’t doubt her words. She stands and waves. “It was nice meeting you, Will!” </p><p>He finds it difficult to forget Hannibal’s strange eyes and the memory of his conversation with Mischa lingers clearly, even as he makes his way back home. </p><p>***</p><p>When he makes it back inside the house, he’s almost tackled by dogs. They come close to knocking him over in their excitement, a few attempting to stretch their bodies up higher as they rest their paws on his legs. </p><p>He can hear Jimmy’s mock-indignant sounds (and Brian’s laughter) over the animals ‘abandoning’ him to greet Will, and he can’t help but grin a little as he scratches between two dogs’ ears. </p><p>“One of these days I’m going to get a dog of my own,” Jimmy declares. </p><p>“What about your bees?” Beverly’s tone is almost teasing. </p><p>“And the three cats you wanted to get,” Brian adds. </p><p>“If you really want a dog, there’s more than half a dozen places you could find one at,” Will shrugs, grinning as the dog that had stayed on the couch with Jimmy perks their head up. </p><p>“Don’t you all have enough dogs?” Jack’s voice comes from the kitchen. “How many are there, now? I don’t have anything against them, but I don’t know that you need to go out of your way to get more,” </p><p>“We have so many. So, so many,” Beverly doesn’t elaborate, petting another dog’s head as they begin to return to the couch. Will takes a seat in the recliner, letting a few of them clamber onto his lap and try to push each other off for more space. </p><p>“We’re not unconvinced that Will isn’t hiding any in his room,” Alana admits. Jimmy and Brian both look at each other, motioning in the air. </p><p>“There’s so many negatives in that sentence, just give us a second,” </p><p>Beverly throws a pillow at both of them (which really isn’t difficult, since they’re next to each other on the couch, coffee mugs on the table in front of them), and when they try to duck, Alana sends her own pillow at them. </p><p>It’s strangely comfortable, at this point—Jack leaning over the counter, disapproval on his face but vague amusement in his eyes; the group managing to go from serious to joking to a strange mix of both; Will managing to feel like an outsider watching everything and like one in the crowd. </p><p>“Did you make any new friends at therapy?” the question is mostly a joke, predominantly teasing, so when Will nods, they all go almost-silent and turn their attention to him. It almost makes him uncomfortable. </p><p>“Uh. Yeah. Mischa Lecter,” he offers the name, almost as if it’s a gift. </p><p>“Lecter?” Alana’s full, undivided attention is on him now. “Was her older brother there?”</p><p>“There was a man with her, she was waiting on him, she called him father,” </p><p>“Her older brother,” Jack nods.</p><p>“Hannibal,” Alana clarifies. “He’s helped me with studying before,” she frowned. “I’m surprised he left her unattended for so long,” </p><p>“She was reading Les Mis,” </p><p>“Of course she was,” Beverly shook her head. “Poor kid,” </p><p>“She seemed to be enjoying it, until—“</p><p>“No, not that,” Jack interrupts him. “They’re both practically orphans,” </p><p>“‘Practically’,” Jimmy says, Brian doing air quotes for him. “Th—“</p><p>“Their aunt and uncle took them in,” Alana cuts the two off. “It was… a whole thing, I think.” She shrugs. “You could probably find more than enough on them if you googled it,” </p><p>Will nodded. “She had a degu with her,” </p><p>Brian snaps. “Mouse girl!” he turns to Jimmy. “Remember her?” </p><p>“They’re—“ </p><p>“No, no, we’ve run into her before. Mischa, that is,”</p><p>“We know you have. I’ve had conversations with Hannibal simply because we were waiting for you three to finish,” Beverly sighed, pulling a dog onto her lap. </p><p>“Why am I hardly surprised?” They can all hear the barely-there smile in Jack’s voice, despite the exasperation on his face. He then directed his attention to Will. “Hannibal and I met a while ago.” He said it as though it explained anything. “I’m positive that man would do almost anything for his sister.” </p><p>“Well, yeah, but to be fair, I’m pretty sure a lot of us would,” Alana only half-jokes, and Will can hear the hint of seriousness in her tone. </p><p>“They both seemed nice when I met them,” Will shrugged. “Granted, that’s if you like conversations about animals and men who don’t say much,” </p><p>Jack, Alana, and Beverly all fixed him with a certain look. </p><p>“Lecter, not be wordy? That’s a first,” Jimmy says it as though he’s attempting to cut through ice. </p><p>“No, when I first met him he wasn’t always much of a talker,” Jack corrects. </p><p>“But Jimmy does have a point. He’s got a habit of, well…” Beverly tacks it onto the end, then shrugs, trailing off. </p><p>“Wait, is he holding another Halloween party this year?” </p><p>“Mischa was trying to convince him, yes,” Jack confirms. </p><p>Will finds himself feeling rather lost in the conversation. “Another?” he asks. Beverly nods. </p><p>“That’s right, you didn’t go. I didn’t stay there for long before coming back, we watched old horror movies,” </p><p>“If Saw is old, are we all ancient?” Jimmy slouches down, scratching a dog’s chin. </p><p>“It came out in 2004, so that’s a somewhat fair assumption,” Brian agrees. </p><p>“Then it’s a good thing you two are already planning your retirement together,” Beverly holds a hand up to high-five Jack at the words. It was a joke they were all used to (and one that held some truth in it, in all likelihood). </p><p>As the group relapses into steady conversation, joking-bordering-serious, and eventually even turn on a movie for background noise, Will considers what he’s learned. </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Twitchy Therapy Man</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The next time he runs into the Lecters, it’s once again accidental. He’s walking along the sidewalk with Beverly—Jimmy and Brian are ahead of them, talking about something and nudging each other so that they almost stumble every so often.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The next time he runs into the Lecters, it’s once again accidental. He’s walking along the sidewalk with Beverly—Jimmy and Brian are ahead of them, talking about something and nudging each other so that they almost stumble every so often. Mischa’s walking not too far away, a book under her arm, wearing a pair of glasses that are a bit darker than the ones she had been wearing the first time he met her, and she’s with the taller man again. Her face lights up when she sees the group coming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hannibal! Hold my book please?” she looks up at him, holding the thick book out, and the man—Hannibal, Will corrects himself—takes the book with little hesitation, tucking it under his own arm. He gives an almost apologetic smile to the group as he follows behind Mischa, who runs up to Jimmy and Brian and proceeds to do a rather complicated-looking handshake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hannibal,” Beverly says it like it’s a greeting, and the man nods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Miss Katz,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beverly grins at the semi-formal response, and nudges Will. Will looks up briefly, nodding at Hannibal, before tearing his eyes away and watching as Mischa, Jimmy, and Brian start doing something that looks suspiciously like a three-way Patty Cake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is Will,” Beverly introduces him. “Will, Hannibal Lecter. That’s Mischa, his sister,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And the Cosette—” Hannibal begins. Mischa’s head whips up and she’s almost glaring, but the entire group can see that there’s no fire behind her eyes, even as she shakes her head quickly. Hannibal shakes his head, just barely stifling a laugh. “I found the temptation hard to resist,” he barely defends. Mischa shakes her head again as she returns her attention to the rather long handshake, none of the three having said even one word to each other. Hannibal adjusts his grip on the book as he watches, turning to look at the trio. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t know…” Will begins. Beverly shrugs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I met Hannibal through…” she starts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A mutual acquaintance,” Hannibal decides. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, that’s right,” Beverly nods. “I don’t think Brian and Jimmy have ever actually had a full conversation with Mischa, but they do this almost every time they see each other,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hannibal nods, as though confirming Beverly’s words. “I fail to see how they’ve even managed to perfect it to this degree,” he adds, referencing the complicated and still continuing handshake that the three of them are doing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not convinced that they don’t just start doing things and running with it until they get bored,” Beverly shakes her head. Brian looks up quickly, squinting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Respect the process!” he’s grinning, still managing to keep up with what the other two are doing. Will notes that it vaguely looks like they’re playing a warped version of concentration, now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s… a lot,” Will eventually settles on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, definitely. But it brings them joy, I see no reason why it should be impeded as long as no one has any place to be,” Hannibal shifts slightly, gripping the book tighter before holding it up and flicking through the pages. He lets out a puff of air in an almost-laugh when he gets to the place the bookmark is at. Will watches Hannibal, mentally making note of the suit he’s wearing with a tie that keeps his collar closed tight on his throat. He’s surprised that Hannibal doesn’t feel choked by it, but then maybe it’s not as tight as he thinks it is. When Hannibal stretches his neck, Will can see a faint line on his throat, pale and mostly hidden by the collar. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Ah</span>
  </em>
  <span>. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beverly shrugs. “As long as they’re all fine with it, I don’t see why we should stop them. But then, I’m not even sure we could if we wanted to,” she turns to Will. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you just… tell them it’s time to go?” he asks. Hannibal looks up, and his eyes are full of mirth. Everything about his gaze suggests amusement. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, we could,” Hannibal says, not looking away from him. Beverly shakes her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Last time we tried that, they wouldn’t go,” she shrugs. “Okay, actually, I take that part about them not actually having a conversation back. I’m pretty sure she showed Jimmy her cat one time,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ananke, and yes.” Hannibal nods. “I remember seeing him at the veterinarian’s office when we had to take her, a while ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Mischa’s at Hannibal’s elbow now, gently tugging her book out from under his arm. He lets her have it with little fighting, eyes bright and softening as he watches his sister flip through the book and move to lean on her head on her brother’s arm, using him as an almost headrest. He only looks on fondly before turning his attention back to the rest of the group, then Mischa gasps, jerking her head up and looking at Will. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Twitching therapy man!” her full attention is on him, finger in her book as she grins. Will ducks his head, embarrassed about all of the attention on him as Hannibal and Beverly both regard him with interested gazes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, that’s correct, you have Bedelia,” Hannibal nods, his gaze almost pinning Will in place. He seems to make a quick decision and suddenly Hannibal is grinning at him, barely showing sharp teeth. Will nods, awkwardly avoiding his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do, yeah,” he confirms, and he can almost feel Beverly’s amused gaze on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hannibal nods once, regarding him with… something. He’s managed to close himself off, eyes betraying little except for when Mischa has his attention--and she has it a lot, almost as though he’s afraid she’ll slip away if he’s not at least partially watching her at all times. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I believe we must be going,” Hannibal decides, and Mischa groans before perking up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait! Before we go…” she goes back to talk to Brian, and the two whisper something before she comes back to him. She looks at Will for a moment before nodding and offering her book to him. “Please?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once it hits him, what she’s asking, he nods and takes the book from her, carefully holding it in both hands and watching as she stands on tiptoes, putting her hands on Hannibal’s shoulders and looking him in the eyes, putting on her best innocent face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hannibal? You know I love you, very very much,” she begins. Hannibal sighs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Mischa. What is it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She grins at him. “Can we have a party for Halloween?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hannibal sighs again and looks at Will and Beverly as though asking for help, before turning his full attention back on his sister. “Yes, Mischa, we will. Would you rather it be separate--” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How many can I get away with?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two. I could be negotiated up to three, if you can play your cards right,” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are they…?” Will whispers to Beverly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mischa’s birthday isn’t too terribly far from Halloween. She wants to see how many parties they can have,” she explains. Will nods. “Hannibal’s a great cook, I don’t know why it’s been so long since the last time he hosted something,” Beverly shrugs, watching as the siblings continue to converse before Mischa lets her brother go and returns to stand in front of Will. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” she says, taking the book. The two continue on their way, subtly (in Hannibal’s case. Mischa was not-so-subtly) nudging each other as they walked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Twitchy therapy man,” Beverly repeats what Mischa had called him earlier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you would all agree that it’s somewhat accurate,” Will shrugs. Beverly grins, and the group continues on their way. </span>
</p>
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